WrestleMania is coming!

Big bad men will stomp each other in Seattle next year

DAVID ANDRIESE, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

By DAVID ANDRIESEN, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Trish Stratus shows off her Woman's Championship belt as stars of the wrestling world were introduced Tuesday morning to promote Wrestlemania XIX at EMP. Wrestlemania XIX will be held at Safeco Field on March 30, 2003.
Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Trish Stratus shows off her Woman's Championship belt as stars of...

Fans reach out to wrestler Kane as he is introduced yesterday morning during a promotion at EMP for WrestleMania XIX, set for March 30 at Safeco Field.
Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Fans reach out to wrestler Kane as he is introduced yesterday...

Robin Jones of Federal Way, like a true fan of professional wrestling, gets into the moment yesterday as she yells and takes pictures of the stars of the wrestling world.
Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Robin Jones of Federal Way, like a true fan of professional...

Triple H warns a fan during a visit to Seattle yesterday morning to promote WrestleMania XIX. Insults are a big part of the show -- and the attraction.
Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Triple H warns a fan during a visit to Seattle yesterday morning to...

One speaker told a heckler to "go home and put your teeth in." Another received an impromptu marriage proposal. A third offered to fight a radio reporter.

Just another news conference for World Wrestling Entertainment.

The company staged a raucous event yesterday at Experience Music Project to make the official announcement that its biggest event, WrestleMania XIX, will be staged March 30 at Safeco Field.

"This is like the Super Bowl in terms of impact on the community," said Vince McMahon, chairman of WWE. (You might know it better as WWF, as it was called before losing a court battle this year to the World Wildlife Fund.)

McMahon and a contingent of 15 of WWE's top wrestlers and personalities arrived at 3 a.m. yesterday after a live show Monday night in Anaheim, Calif. The news conference included about 500 fans who hooted, jeered and chanted throughout.

The wrestlers were in character, with the "babyfaces" (good guys) and "heels" (bad guys) acting accordingly. The easiest way for a heel to stir up the crowd is to insult the city, and nobody is better at it than superheel Kurt Angle, who is greeted with chants of "you suck!" wherever he goes.

"So this is the Pacific Northwest, huh? What a dump," said Angle, a gold medalist in amateur wrestling at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. "Why do we have to come to Seattle? If it wasn't for Kurt Cobain and 'Frasier,' nobody outside this rain forest would even know who you people are."

In truth, the Northwest is one of the most stable fan bases for a company weathering a financial storm.

"The outpouring every time we come to Seattle is tremendous," said Mark Callaway, the nearly 7-foot-tall, tattoo-covered hulk known as The Undertaker. "You are the hotbed, so this is where we're bringing our biggest event."

WWE bought out its chief rival, World Championship Wrestling, last year to become a practical monopoly, but television ratings have crashed because of unpopular story lines and the loss of some favorite personalities.

How big is WrestleMania? In 1987, it drew 93,173 fans to the Silverdome in Detroit -- believed to be the largest indoor gathering in human history. More than 1 million households eagerly hand over $50 for the pay-per-view broadcast. It has featured such unlikely participants as Liberace, Muhammad Ali and Alex Trebek.

"Few annual events in sports or entertainment live up to the hype," McMahon said. "One event lives up to its hype every year, and that event is WrestleMania."

The ring will likely be at second base, with a plastic protective layer over the grass and seats filling the rest of the field. Organizers hope seating will be close to 55,000; the ballpark seats 46,000 for baseball.

The Mariners' 2003 schedule has not been released, but the timing of the WWE event makes it likely they'll open on the road for just the seventh time in their 26-year history.

Landing the event is a coup for Safeco Field, which wants to build a reputation as a major venue outside the baseball season.

"We put on a football game, and we put on a soccer game, but we knew if we really wanted to put ourselves on the map, we needed to talk to the WWE," said Tony Pereira, Safeco's director of field operations.

Although Seattle will be one of the smallest markets to host WrestleMania, WWE knows the region is loyal. When tickets go on sale in January, they shouldn't last long.

"Frankly, (coming to Seattle) is just long overdue," McMahon said. "You've got a terrific facility in Safeco Field and rabid, fantastic fans."

This will be just the second WrestleMania held in an open-air setting -- the other was in balmy Las Vegas -- and organizers acknowledge that it could be chilly. McMahon said there could also be a problem with the roof.

"We're not going to open the roof," he said. "We're going to blow it off."